People in the
Republic of Ireland outside NTL franchise areas now have
a choice of digital TV supplier - Chorus Communication or
Sky Digital. And with no sign of an ADSL rollout, and DTT
over two years away, this is likely to be the choice
facing Irish consumers. While the digital battle has gone
over the heads of Irish people until now, competition is
hotting up with the recent launch of Chorus Digital, and
SkyDigital's free box offer, things are starting to hot
up...

NB:
When I first did this review, I was under the (mistaken)
impression that Chorus was to roll out its direct
telephony/FWPTMA service simultanously with digital -
apparently telephony will be a few months behind. While
this makes Chorus TV pack less attractive in the short
term, given its price vis-a-vis Chorus Intro its still
fairly good value IMO...

This
review assumes that the Chorus subscriber has access to
Chorus direct telephony services, and that the Sky
subscriber is subscribing to eircomirelandfor fixed line
telephone service.

Sky and
Chorus are evenly matched in this regard. Its a fifty
pound connection fee each way you look at it. Of course,
if you're a current Chorus Intro subscriber you'll get
free installation, giving Chorus a big advantage for
existing cable and MMDS subscribers. One up for Chorus
for existing subscribers, score-draw otherwise. DRAW

Access to
terrestrial services is Chorus' big selling point. Only
through Chorus can you get access to all Irish services
in digital, as well as a selection of UK terrestrial
channels. You're future proofed, since new RTE services
will also appear on Chorus Digital.

Although Sky
seem to be moving towards carrying terrestrial channels
with the BBC launch, two channels aren't a full basket.
With Sky, you're doomed to analogue off-air reception for
all the other services (for now), which isn't the best in
some areas, even for RTE. Chorus could improve things
however by offering some of the new Free to Air services
from the UK broadcasters, such as UTV2 and BBC CHOICE. Winner:
Chorus.

Sky's basic package, Value Pack, is possibly
the most lacklustre set of channels ever put forward as a
basic package in a multichannel TV service. It basically
consists of Sky Oneand a couple of news and shopping
channels. Good for news junkies perhaps, but when you've
no terrestrial channels you'll need something more solid.
And Chorus TV provides it. Even excluding the terrestrial
channels, its got the essentials you need from
multichannel TV - two music, documentaries, and childrens
channels each, Eurosport for sports fans, and Sky News
and Bloomberg for news junkies. The price also includes a
telephone line - adding that to the cost of the Sky Value
Pack brings it up to £22, making Chorus the cheaper and
better value option by far for those only wanting
terrestrial services. Winner: Chorus

Oh dear. Once
you go beyond basics, Chorus doesn't look nearly as
attractive. Factoring in the cost of an Eircom landline,
its full entertainment package costs only a pound cheaper
than Sky.
All of Chorus' channels are on SkyDigital. The range of
channels on Sky expands by the month, while Chorus is
preciously close to its limit for MMDS customers. For
sheer amount of channels, Sky is by far the best value.
The widest choice, the best satellite-only channels. Winner:
Sky.

Sports
PackageSky:
Family Pack + Sports £30 (plus £13 Eircom landline). Family
Pack plus Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky
Sports Extra. The Family pack includes two sports
channels, Sky Sports.com TV (a sports news channel) and
British Eurosport.Chorus: TV4 + Sports: £43 TV4 plus Sky
Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, and Sky Sports 3. You'll also
have Eurosport International and local GAA coverage on
Chorus Sports.Pretty evenly matched here in terms of price.
However Sky has the edge for sports fans with two
exclusive channels - Sky Sports Extra for interactive
coverage and full up to date Sports News coverage on Sky
Sports.comTV. You'll also get the British version of
Eurosport instead of the international one - arguably
more relevant. All Chorus can throw at this is its Sports
Channel - which concentrates on club GAA and isn't really
a factor. Of course, if Chorus were to bid for and get
the rights for the National League or All-Ireland
Championship, it would be different. Winner:Sky.

It must be
said, Sky are vastly superior to Chorus when it comes to
films. Not only are they cheaper in every respect, but
they have twelve regular film channels instead of three,
and 64 channels of pay per view films instead of 16. No
contest here. Winner: Sky.

Both Sky and Chorus have chosen
OpenTV as their software platform for interactive
services. But beyond that, both are promising very
different interactive content. Sky's strategy is to
create a "walled garden", that is you can only
access the services it provides. In the case of the
interactive news and sports services they're very good,
but that, unfortunately is as far as it goes. SkyText
Digital is also very good but is essentially a teletext
service (albeit a very fast and colourful one!). As for
Open, the service is limited to a few games and browsing
the stores (look, but don't touch - or buy...), and
really isn't that much. Chorus on the other hand not only
has full, free, always-on access to the web and e-mail,
but an interactive portal full of local Irish content. I
can see Chorus Digital customers fighting for the
keyboard... Winner: Chorus.

Electronic Programme
GuideAs mentioned
previously the basic software for the EPG is the same on
Chorus and SkyDigital, nevertheless both have produced
radically different guides. SkyGuide has universally been
praised as the best EPG, and I don't think anything
Chorus have done can change that. Sure enough, from the
Chorus pics I have seen, their EPG is good (nice, soft,
green backround, good, clear navigation instructions),
but its not as good as SkyGuide, and doesn't have the
prequiste planner view. Winner: Sky.

And
The Winner Is...I'm going to disappoint you by not picking
a winner. The trouble is, these are too pretty good
digital TV systems, but neither is by any means perfect.
There is of course, the ITV Question, so
called because of the absence of ITV from Sky Digital in
preference to ONdigital. On the sole question of the
presence of Britain's most popular channel, many people
in the UK chose ONdigital. And so here people will choose
Chorus Digital, because of the presence of the UK
terrestrial channels. Its no concidence that every Chorus
advert parades the fact that BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 are
on Chorus Digital. Access to UK and Irish terrestrial
stations is the platform's Unique Selling Point. Also
Chorus' basic package is far better value than Sky's,
offering a greater and more varied number of channels.
Chorus interactive service, simply by offering access to
the web for free 24/7, is also a massive selling point,
one Sky will never have. Chorus' content is far more
tuned towards the Irish market - all Sky can offer you is
Tara, consisting mainly of RTE repeats.

The problem
starts once you go beyond the basics. Sky's Family Pack
offers a massive number of channels, far more than
Chorus' TV4 option. And for movies and sports Sky is
offering a far suprior service, with 12 movie channels
instead of 3, 64 box office instead of 16, and exclusive
interactive sports coverage.